In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow confesses to loving maps as a boy and hankering after the excitement of travel and adventure. During the description of his boyhood travel fantasies, Marlow references his fascination with Africa, what he calls "a blank space" (14). However, Marlow recognizes that, by the time he was ready to venture to Africa, "it had become a place of darkness" (14).
Throughout the book, it's apparent that Marlow thinks of...
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow confesses to loving maps as a boy and hankering after the excitement of travel and adventure. During the description of his boyhood travel fantasies, Marlow references his fascination with Africa, what he calls "a blank space" (14). However, Marlow recognizes that, by the time he was ready to venture to Africa, "it had become a place of darkness" (14).
Throughout the book, it's apparent that Marlow thinks of Africa as a place of darkness. He sees it as a place that harkens back to the darker essence of a more primitive humanity. For example, he says that traveling on the "river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world" (84). Additionally, Marlow regards the vast wilderness of the Congo with a deep unease. At one point, he notes that "the great wall of vegetation... was like a rioting invasion of soundless life... ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence" (74). In short, it's clear that Marlow views the African wilderness as a menacing and violent force that echoes the dark beginnings of the human race.
It's important to recognize that these sentiments have significant racist undertones. Marlow's theory that Africa is a reflection of primitive humanity functions upon the assumption that the cultures in Africa are inferior to his own and represent a "primitive" version of humanity. Thus, while Marlow does not exhibit the overt racism of some of his colleagues, he does possess subtly racist beliefs.
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